Disclaimer: I don't own Castle characters or well, anything connected to the show. If I did, I wouldn't have Stana leave …


He's beautiful.

Kate had the strangest dream, and all she could remember as she woke up was her mother telling her 'he's beautiful'. Did she mean peanut?

"Kate, baby, I love you," Rick grumbled as she turned on her reading lamp, "but it's 3am, go back to sleep."

"What if I'm no good at this?" She didn't know where the fear came from.

"No good at what?" Rick raised his head to look at her.

"All of it! Wife, mother …" she knew it was irrational to an extent but couldn't stop herself.

"You will be great, you are great at everything you do." He continued, "you are Katherine Beckett, lead homicide detective, with the highest closing rate of any detective in New York," he smiled softly. "Plus you have been there for Alexis from day one, that has been very motherly of you, it's been good practice. Being a mother isn't just about knowing when to change a diaper, that part only lasts the first 3 years. It's the molding the child into the best they can be, and you have been a big part in doing that with Alexis. I know you'll do great with this one too."

"Where would I be without you?" She sighed as she wiped a stray tear from her cheek.

"Well probably not pregnant," he mused, "or full of self-doubt."

She laughed at that, "well true, I hadn't even considered having kids until I met you."

The next couple of weeks went by quickly and uneventfully, except for the fact that Alexis had finally asked out the barista and they had a wonderful time.

"Kate? I was wondering if you would like to go over a few things with me?" He asked.

She walked into his study and saw that he had a few binders open on his desk.

"What's going on?" She had reached his desk and noticed a few photos of cribs in the binder on top.

"Well, I think we should start making decisions about the nursery. So I had my interior designer friend send over some samples and ideas for us to look over." He looked at her and smiled, obviously proud of his own efforts.

"Wow, babe," she couldn't help the smile that spread across her face. "This is amazing, I like this one," she said pointing to a white crib set. "How should we decorate? Should we maybe wait until we know the sex, or just keep it unisex?"

"How about we keep it in the earthy tones, browns and greens," be began, "then it will work with either pink or blue." He started flipping through the binder and when he found what he was looking for turned it towards Kate, "something like this."

"Wow, it's perfect." He had made a collage of his ideal nursery, it had light beige walls with a white crib and changing table a light green rocker and the bedding matched a mural of trees and a few animals.

"Fantastic, that settles that then," he said proudly. "On to the next order of business, the engagement party!"

"Engagement party? I didn't know we were doing that," she was a bit shocked.

He hadn't mentioned an engagement party, shouldn't they be focusing on setting a date for the wedding? Before or after peanuts arrival.

"Uhm, babe?" She regained her composure, "shouldn't we be making the wedding a priority? We need to do that soon if we want to do it before I start to show or not until after peanut is born."

"I say we wait," he said, "that way we can plan the perfect wedding, what do you think?"

"Well, I think it sounds reasonable." Do I want to wait and have a baby out of wedlock?

"Great, let's plan an engagement party." He said, quickly adding, "we should have it at our place in the Hamptons."

"Our place, huh?" she chuckled.

"Well, yes, it'll be our place legally soon enough," he said earnestly.

"I like it, our place, our future, our lives, our baby," she kissed him softly.

They had decided on the next weekend as a way of celebrating their engagement and announcing the pregnancy, she would be about 12 weeks by then.

When Kate came home late one night after work, she was exhausted, this pregnancy was kicking her butt. Rick and Martha had already had dinner so Kate grabbed the plate Rick had made for her from the fridge and put it in the microwave. I love how he takes care of me, I think I'll give him a thank you kiss. When she walked into his office, a couple of things happened, Martha and Rick stopped mid-sentence and then she closed his computer.

"Katherine, what are you doing here?" Martha asked surprised by Kates sudden appearance.

"I, wha-, I live here," Kate was suspicious of their behavior but chalked it to hormones, for the time being.

"Of course you do," Martha huffed, "no, I mean in the study."

"I wanted to thank Rick for …" She stopped, "what were you doing?"

"We were just," Rick began, looking unsure, "mother?"

"Katherine, darling," she said breathily, "Richard was just teaching be how to find some information on the web."

"Right," Kate knew she sounded a little skeptical but it couldn't be helped. What are those two up to?

Kate walked over to Rick, kissed his cheek and said, "thank you for making dinner." There was a beep beep from the kitchen and she went to get her food, leaving the door open on her way out and was a little surprised when they shut it again.

What could they possibly be hiding, was this about the party? About protecting me? Damn it, I wish I could figure it out.

Alexis came home as Kate was loading her plate into the dishwasher, so Alexis didn't see her as she walked straight into the study. "Did she see you?" she heard Rick say. "No she wasn't there," Alexis replied. "Good, close the door, dear," Martha said and the door was closed.

Et tu, Brute. They are all in on it? They better have some explanation for this secrecy.

Kate was getting frustrated, her hormones didn't help much and she decided to shower and go to bed.

When Rick entered the room she pretended to be asleep, hoping for some tidbit about the secret conversations behind closed doors, but he just changed and went to bed without a word. As he got himself settled he put his arm around her waist and pulled her in close, kissing her temple and whispered, "how did I get this lucky." Kate let her body melt into his and was a sleep in seconds.

The party was this weekend and Kate was struggling to find a dress to wear, she was just starting to notice the changes in her body. She wasn't really showing unless you really knew what to look for, but it was enough for her not to feel comfortable in any of her clothes.

"Babe, I have nothing to wear on Saturday!" Kate called over her shoulder, Rick was trying to get some writing done, but Kate was continuously breaking his concentration and she knew it but didn't care much at this moment.

"What do you mean? You have a closet full of clothes." Rick said, clearly distracted.

"None of them fit anymore, my body is changing too fast," Kate complained. "I wanted to wear this dress," she held one up for him to see, "but my boobs are too big."

"I know it's great," Rick smiled to himself, Kate was not entertained.

"You are not helping," she growled.

"Why don't you and Alexis go shopping for a new dress?" Rick suggested.

"That would be great, I'll talk to her tomorrow morning."

Alexis and Kate were getting along great, Alexis had even agreed to be her fathers' best man. So when Kate suggested shopping, Alexis was all for it.

They had decided that they would check out some dress shops and see if they found the perfect one. As they headed for the store they walked past a bridal store, with nice dresses in the windows.

"Kate?" Alexis looked mischievous. "Should we look at wedding dresses?"

Kate looked through the window, "yes, I think we need to. I mean I need to see what they have to offer, but it will have to be pretty amazing to top the dress I want to wear."

"What do you mean? Have you found a dress?" Alexis asked.

"No, well, not really," Kate was shy all of a sudden, "I just always thought I would wear my mother's dress." She admitted sheepishly.

"I like that," Alexis said, "but we need to see what they have for Lanie right? Bridesmaids dresses!" She smiled, "and there's no harm in trying on one or two wedding dresses right?"

"Right," Kate smiled too. "Thanks for doing this with me."

"Sure thing," Alexis took Kates hand and they walked in. They found Lanies dress, and Kate tried on a few before deciding she was still hoping to be able to fit into her mother's dress.

Because Kate had to work, Rick had offered to take Martha up to the Hamptons to get everything set up. This meant that Kate and Alexis had the loft to themselves and decided to have a little girls' night in, just the two of them on Thursday.

After manis and pedis and a homemade facial, they had some hot chocolate and watched a movie, some chickflick with that really hot actor.

Kate looked at Alexis and asked her pointedly, "so, what is this big surprise your dad has in store for me on Saturday?"

"I, uhm, what? There's no surprise," Alexis stumbled on her words, adding in a whisper, "at least not if I tell you."

"I heard that," Kate smiled, hoping she was about to crack her step-daughter.

"I won't tell you, otherwise the surprise will be ruined." Alexis met her for a second and then quickly back at the movie.

"Oh, fine," Kate laughed, I knew he was planning something.